Dalziel+Scullion Breathtaking report

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Dalziel + Scullion: Breath Taking Multi-city installation and associated debate from 22 May 05

The latest work by award-winning artists Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion will go live in cities across the UK on 22 May 2005. Appointed Fellows of the Huntly-based Deveron Arts earlier this year, the artists have devoted the Fellowship to extend their investigations into the complex relationship between mankind and the natural world. Breath Taking will be seen in Aberdeen, Birmingham, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newcastle and Manchester as well as in Clashindarroch, the proposed site for a major Wind Farm, and will coincide with the World Renewal Energy Conference. Much of Dalziel + Scullion’s practice looks at the shifting environment and increasing urbanisation of the population, and the impact, both social and cultural, of these developments. Breath Taking has as its starting point the current debate surrounding planning proposals for wind farms. It seeks to extend the debate from the local to the global, inviting audiences not simply to take a “pro” or “anti” position on the issue, but rather to question the implications for the sustainability of civic life if the current collective levels of energy consumption continue; the repercussions, potential and actual, of our love affair with materialism; and the romantic relationship between urban civilisation and the countryside in the 21st century. When we look at what is actually generating the ecological crisis that we are facing, it becomes apparent that it is not separable from the dynamics of the global economic system itself, which is governed by constant economic growth. In fact, the global economic system is increasingly becoming a challenge to the processes of the biosphere in terms of scale. This situation therefore casts doubt upon the viability and effectiveness of environmental approaches – such as the desperate response of scattering our remaining habitat with wind turbines - which simply accepts the imperative of growth and materialism without question. Ironically, the consequent


industrialisation of the countryside is strikingly at odds with the widespread desire of Urban civilisation to preserve a romantic vision of the landscape – the untouched wilderness and place of escape (rarely if ever-employed) from the day to day pressures of urban living. On the one hand Breath Taking refers us to the form of the actual landscape, referencing the geological phenomena that created its overall topology and man’s own smaller-scale interventions through farming, forestry, mining and quarrying. On the other hand the work forms part of an historic artistic continuum: the juxtaposition of the urban and the bucolic in artistic practice. The artists aim to capture a scene as though viewed from the period of the romantic Sublime, a time when mankind was both frantically exploiting natural resources, but also coming to marvel at Nature’s grandeur. An associated discussion, Energy, Landscape, Wilderness and Growth, will take place in Huntly on Sunday 22 May. Chaired by Observer columnist, Ruaridh Nicoll, participants include: the artists, writer, critic and Lecturer, Mel Gooding; writer and architect Paul Shepheard; and Landscape Modeller Dr David Miller from the Macauley Institute of Land Use. Breath Taking is supported by: Aberdeenshire Council, The Arts Council of England, Gordon Forum of the Arts, The Innovation Fund for Architecture (The Lighthouse National Programme); the Scottish Arts Council, Sigrid Rausing and the University of Dundee.

Dalziel + Scullion Dalziel and Scullion are Scottish-based artists who have worked in collaboration since 1993. During this time they have produced a significant body of work that has been widely shown nationally and internationally. For full details see www.dalzielscullion.com.

Deveron Arts Deveron Arts is based in Huntly, Aberdeenshire and serves as a catalyst for contemporary arts in the rural community. The town itself is the focus for its programme, with arts production and presentation taking place in a variety of unusual spaces. Deveron Arts works with local people, but has also awarded Fellowships to high profile international practitioners from across the art forms. For further information on Breath Taking and Deveron Arts visit www.deveron-arts.com, or email info@deveron-arts.com


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